Composition for treating fruit and the like



Patented May 18," 1926;

T" t/ I a! Wg- UNl summer PANY, 0]? WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA, A CORPORATION OF FLORIDA; f

' COMPOSITION roa'rnna'rrne mum. AND 5.11m LIKE.

No'Drawing.

This invention relates to compositions for ing a'normally solid protective material,

especially a waxy material of substantially neutral character, such as parafiine wax,'1n-

ture with an oily'vehicle that is also substantially neutral-or inert, the mixture being adapted, when properly applied to freshfruit or the. like; to provide the same with a very thin film like coating efiective to suitably seal the surface thereof in suchman-- ner as to provideprotection against infection from external sources, to prevent withering or shri'nking'and loss of flavor for prolonged" periods of time, and in general to maintain thev fruit or like article sound,

For the sake of convenience, the term,

fruit is herein used in a broad sense to include both fruits proper and also vegetables, in so far as they can be treated to advantage with the novel compositions ofthe invention.

In the course of. extensive practical work in the protective or preservative treatment of fresh fruit by coating the same with a mixture of parafiin and a liquid vehicle or solvent therefor, I have found it possible to improvematerially; the mixture or' com-' position with respect to its effect upon the keeping-qualities of the fruit and upon the acceptability of the fruit to the trade from the standpoint of appearance, as well I as in other important respects, as will hereinafter appear. Whereas a composition in which the entiresolvent vehicle is of relatively high volatility, such as gasoline, has

heretotore been considered especially ad,v vantageous and has in. fact been employed to a considerable extent, I have now found" that more uniformly dependable results can be had and other practical advantages attaine'd'by using a vehicle consisting wholly or'in partof-a suitable liquid medium characterized-"by' substantially lower volatility than gasoline, providedthe composition is v,

otherwise properlyconstituted and care is taken teensure'thatthe protective or; pre- Application med Marya, 192a Serial No. 615,741.

servative coating remaining on the fruit as a result of thetreatment is of the requisite extreme thinness. It is of importance also that whatever vehicle is; employed shall be as nearly netural and inert as possible in respect to itsbehavior toward fruit'under timatelylfassociatedain suitably fluent mixthe conditions of its employment for the purposes stated.

Among various oils less volatile than gasoline and otherwise suitable that I have found satisfactory for use in the practice .of my invention, refined mineral oils derived frompetroleum, and particularly those that are free from color, taste and odor, or practically so, are usually best adapted for the purposes here in view. Of such oils, which are produced from both parafine base and naphthene base crudes, those known commercially as white oils, some of-which' are used for medicinal purposes, possess char.- acteristics that render them especially advantageous as components of preservative coating compositions of the character here 1n question; but it is to be understood that the broad invention is'not limited to the employment of such oi'l's, these. being referredto here only by way of an illustrative sometimes beie'mployed in my"-" novel [co1n-.

position as an oily; vehicle." I

In some'of thefloroader'aspectsoffthe in-: I .ventio'n, the oilyjvehicle employed in the novel composition may be characterized generally as'anzoil' included TIwit-hin the range- ERNEST m. nnoannn, or WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA, assrenonro'nn'oeimk con ll i R6 Roam defined by lubricating oils. on the one hand and low-boiling kerosenes on the other, as re 'spectivelimits, and thatis without 'js'ubstan tialdeteriorating or destructive action on fruit. Oils: includedwithin saidrange are all I suhstantially non-volatile at ordinary: room ,6

temperatures and-most of them have fiashf points ;-well above those prevailing at any'j stage in the preservative treatment ot fruit,

. As a result of. extensive experimentation in preservative. treatment-of fresh fruits; of various kinds, I h'avefoun'd that the mat-.

sea s1 'ter of viscosity of the oily vehicle employed is one that in many cases has 9. ve 1mportant influence on the character an consequent efi'ectiveness of the rotective or preservative coatin film pro need on the fruit by the metho s of application now in use. The viscosity factor manifests itself in at least two ways: first, it materially affects the thickness of the protective film produced on the fruit by the rubbing action of the polisher brushes or other rubbing means em loyed; and second, it determines in some egree the extent to which the solvent penetrates or is absorbed by the tissues of the fruit skin or rind, thus also necessarily afi'ecting the consistency and other properties of the residual protective film proper. Thus, where avehicle of too high-viscosity is used, even though the waxy composition may have the appearance of being easily spreadable, the brushes may not rub it out on the fruit surface to the thinness requisite for best results. Furthermore such an' oil is apt not to penetrate or be absorbed by the fruit rind or skin to the extent normally desirable in the case of citrus fruits especially. On the other hand certain thin-skinned and sensitive ades of fruit may be damaged rather than elped by applicat1on thereto of a composition comprising an oil of too low viscosity and 'cor-' respondingly high penetrative properties.

7 Accordingly the factor of viscosity is a controlling consideration in some, although notall, aspects of the present invention.

The employment of suitable vegetable or animal oils is not excluded but is more expensive; and furthermore mineral oils are ness under the conditions of use herein contemplated. Nor is the presence in the composition of a more volatile solvent, such as gasoline or petrolic ether, for example, if in association witha less volatile solvent of the general class above referred to, to be understood as outside the scope of the invention in its broader aspects. .The important consideration is that there shall be present in the mixture enough of a solventless volatile than gasoline to exercise a substantial influence upon the character of the composition, distinguishing it from compositions in which only a relatively volatile solvent is employed.

It is of course important to avoid using oils or other ingredients in the mixture that have a specifically harmful action on fruit.

Oils that are undesirable to-employ' in the novel composition of the invention in itsbest embodiments may result, for'example, from excessive heat treatment and consequent drastic cracking during the refining discoloration; or they may be oils that show substantial mineral acidit as a result of improper treatment after. istillation. Such oils should not be used in the treatment of highly sensitivefruit. Generally speaking, the presence of heavy lubricating ends in the oily vehicle is not desirable.

The waxy material included in the novel composition, as well as the oily vehicle should be practically inert chemically, Without harmful action upon fruit or upon the human digestive tract, and most desirably should be substantially free of color, taste and odor. Ordinarily a mineral wax best answers the 'requirements. Paralfine Wax,

obtainable commercially in several grades varying in purity and melting point, is especially to be recommended. A highly refined parafiine that is of excellent pur1t and has a reason-ably low melting point, a out 118 F,. is commercially available and has given particularly good results in practice; and,

unless otherwise specified, its use will be understood wherever paraffine is referred to hereinafter. Higher melting and less pure grades of parafline can be used but are sometimes not so completely satisfactory.

In order to afford astill fuller understanding of the principles of the invention, specific illustrative examples of compositions embodying the same will now be given.

Eaiample 1.

High grade commercial parafline wax having a melting point of about 118 F. is

melted and heated to a temperature approximating 13-5-140 F. and is intimately mixed or blended with a white mineral oil, which may also be warmed somewhat, in the pro portion of 1 volume of the molten paraffine to 2 volumes of the white oil. The mixing may be conveniently effected by running properly proportioned streams of the paraffine and oil simultaneously into a suitable container equipped with a stirring or agitatbing device; the mixture, which is a clear liquid at first, being thoroughly stirred until it cools to-room temperature. As it cools, the mixture thickens, turning whitish and more or less opaque, due to partial congelation of the blend at the room temperature in question. If properly mixed, and especially if the mixing is effected in a highspeed agitator or emulsifier, the final product is a smooth. homogeneous, substantially white magma-like mass of somewhat thick 65 F. or thereabouts. The general method ofpreparation described is adapted for preparing not only the composition of this particular example, but also of those hereinafter set forth. i

In atypical instance the oil used in the foregoing specific example may desirably be but fairly fluent consistency at ordinary room temperatures even as low as 60 to a low-viscosity white mineral oil, practically odorless, colorless and tasteless, having a specific gravity of'betwecn about .830 and .870 and a relatively. narrow distillation range,'all of which characteristics render t especially suitable for use as an. oily vehicle in the composition described. A typiabout 1 part parailine and 2 parts white oil in a typical instance, is one oflering im-- portant advantages for preservative treatment of globular fruits generally. Properly applied to such fruit, notably apples and pears, and also citrus fruit including oranges, grapefruit, lemons, etc., this composition provides the fruit with an eiiicient protective film coating of thoroughly satisfactory character and of such extreme thinness as hardly to be perceptible. application can be effected bya thorough rubbing operation which is most conveniently effected by means of polisher apparatus of a generally well known type having long revolving cylindrical brush rolls arranged in parallel and cooperating in pairs to provide inclined runways down which the fruit may travel while being subjected to'the rubbing action of the horsehair brush bristles- The final stage of the rubbing is desirably carried on in an environment heated to around 130 to 140 F. The relatively non-volatile neutral oil in the'comparatively minute quantity of composition remaining on each fruit after treatment is apparently absorbed in part by the, skin or rind of the fruit to such an extent that the treated fruit does not have an unduly slick feel, especially after the lapse of a few days. At the same time, the undesirable deteriorating effects on fruit sometimes produced under certain conditions when a volatile solvent such as gasoline 0on stitutes the only vehicle for the wax, are notably absent. Moreover, the film-like waxy coating is less brittle and more perfectly adherent to the fruit than where the vehicle is wholly of the volatile type. An-v other good point of this and all other forms of the novel composition is that it does not cake or clog the polisher brushes with paraffine" anywhere near as much as did former compositions comprising only a volatile sol-' 1th the" vent. vehicle for the paraflirie. I formerly used paralfine' gasoline COmPOSIL- caoss REFERENCE adapting it for Proper tion, the comparatively rapid evaporation of the solvent resulted in the horsehair bristles of the polisher brushes eventually becoming encased in fairly solid parafline,

.which greatly reduced the efliciency of the brushes and necessitated more or less frequent shut-downs to clean them. Actual practice has demonstrated other advantages ofthe novel: composition unnecessary to enumerate here.

While, as stated, the specific composition just described has characteristics peculiarly relative proportions of the ingredients can be. varied within certain limits without greatly altering said characteristics, and within still wider limits while still realizing importantbenefits of the invention. in operating at atmospheric temperatures around to F., a thinner inliiture of the parafiine and white oil comprising about 30 per cent of parafline is to-be recommended; while, in very warm weather 35 to 4-0 per cent of parafiine can be used to advantage. In other cases, compositions compris ing a white oil vehicle and containing as little-as 5 or 10 to 20. per cent of parafline, or as much as'65 to 7 5 per cent of paraffine, find useful application; but in. general these are not so desirable as the compositions in which the proportion of parafline is between 25 and 50 per cent.

Example 2.

White oils that are heavier and of higher viscosity than the typical oil whose identifycertain fruits, notably apples and pears, this is not olnectionable and even has some advantages. Identifying 'characteristics of two typical specimens of such heavier white oils that are commercially available and that have proven satisfactory are as follows 1 it 2 (Medicinal) Baume grav 28. 5 28. 0 Spccllc gray .883 .886 Viscosity at 100 F 121 sec. Saybolt. 204 sec. Saybolt.

Specimen #1 has a very faint yellow tint, a faint odor and is practically tasteless;

while the medicinal oil, specimen #2. is water white, odorless and tasteless. For general purposes a white oil having a viscosity not materially exceeding 150. seconds the purposes in view, the- Thus,

SCH ROQM is preferable. although a viscosity of as high;

as 300' seconds is sometimes suitable. It is of .890 or .900.

seldom necessary to exceed a 'Ewample 3. I

In, this case a substantiall lighter but still comparatively non-volati e 011 is used with a mineral wax such as parafiine. Highly desirable oils of this type may range, for

example,from'42 to 44. Baum (.811to .820 -specific gravity) but wider variations are permissible. Such an oil'may have a distillation range of 360i to 486 F. in a igpical instance, and a fia'sh' point of149 Such an oil is practicall a narrow -cut oil of the kerosene t pe, hig ly refined and substantially non-v atile .b'elow 150 *It tral, and has only a very faint odor o keroamples 1 and 2. Compositions com rising is substantially water white, practicall neusene. Itsviscosity is very much lower than a white oil of the-type employed in ex-' mixtures 'of such an oil with am e in various suitable proportions ave given good results in practice for certainipurposes. The proportion of parafline may vary from as little as or per cent to as much as '80 or 90 per cent; but a ran 'e of from-about production.

, Example 4.

By blending with parafiine a composite non-volatile oil'solvent vehicle, comprising two or' more white mineral oils of the types mentioned in examples 1 and 2, or comprising a white oil and a lighter non-volatilesolvent such as that described under example 3, compositions are obtainable that are found superior for some purposes to those demeet given conditions of use.

scribed in the preceding examples. The employment of a composite oily vehicle enables accurate adjustment of the viscosity and other properties of the composition to thoroughly emulsified mixture of equal parts by volume of paraifine, a white mineral oil, and a lighter mineral oil of. the kerosene type, is found highly effective for preservatively-coating and polishing citrus fruit at ordinary room temperatures; and a mixture that is even better under some circumstances results from similarly blending about 30 parts of parafline with 20 parts of white oil and 50 parts of the lighter oil of the kerosene type. Still another mixture that works exceedingly well consists of 35 parts of the paralfine wax,-15 parts of white oil, and 50 parts of said lighter oil. These mixtures are especially satisfactory when the white oil employed is that described in exp e specific, gravity I V g I have also found that the employment of Thus, a

non-volatile oil in. a preservative composition of the general character here in question is distinctly advantageous even where the greater part of the oily vehicle is one, like gasoline or petrolic ether, that is relatively volatile at' usual atmospheric temperatures. Here, as in the preceding examples, the nonvolatile oil functions usefully in bettering the character and adherence of the waxy coating. If the composition is very thin and fluid, as it may be in the preservative treatment of certain fruits that occur in clusters or bunches, such as bananas and grapes, where rubbing the fruit is not feasible and dipping must be resorted to, the presence of even as little as 3 to 5 per cent of a white ,mineral oil in the mixture or solution of 'parafiine and volatile solvent is effective to prevent the parafline from being deposited in crystals or similar particles on the surface of the fruit upon evaporation of the volatile solvent. Moreover, the character of the film-likeresidual coating of parafiine on the presence of the non-volatile oil therein.

While certain harmless ingredients other than the Wax material and the oily solvent vehicle may e incorporated for particular purposes in the various forms of my novel composition hereinabove described, without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, such additional ingredients are not usually necessary and should in any case be emplo' ed with. great caution in view of the remar able sensitiveness of many fruits to various agents that are ordinarily classed as innocuous. 4

In some instances I have foundit highly advantageous to incorporate in the preservative coating composition a germicidal agent effective to destroy or arrest the action of harmful micro-organisms, such as blue-mold spores and other fungoid organisms, that sometimes infest citrus and other fruits and that often ultimately destroy or seriously damage 'the fruit before it can be gotten into the hands of the consumer. In an important specific embodiment of my invention, therefore, a small percentage, ordinarily not to exceed 5 per cent, of a suitable germicidal agent such as formaldehyde may be incorporated and distributed throughout the composition by thorough mixing or emulsification. For example, the composition described under example 4 above, especially those comprising 30 to 35 parts of parafiine, 20 to 15 parts of white oil, and 50 parts of a lighter oil of the kerosene type, may be modified by introducing about 1 or 2 parts of formalin (40 er cent formaldehyde), the mixture being tioroughly blended, as'by a dipped fruit is favorably influenced by the ice-i taining formaldehyde, as well as the other compositions hereinabove described, are

most desirably applied to the fruit after the fruit has'been cleansed without the use-of any water whatever, either by dry brushing or with the aid of a nod-aqueous medium such as an oil of some kind. The formaldehyde is found to effectively further the tendency of the composition to inhibit the development of any harmful micro-organisms that may remain on the fruitin spite of the careful preliminary waterless cleansing before mentioned. The percentage of the germicidal agent employed may of course 'be varied within reasonable limits, and the proportions of the waxy and oily ingredients relative to each other may naturally alsobe varied to suit practical conditions. Moreover, other germicidal agents may be used in place of formaldehyde, but at present formaldehyde is considered as most advantageous for various reasons among which may be mentioned the fact that its volatility ensures its substantially complete elimination from the fruit during shipment and before it reaches the consumer.

It has of course been proposed heretofore to treat fruit with germicidal agents, in-

cluding formaldehyde, in conjunction with non-aqueous.

the usual methods of washing fruit with water. But these proposed methods are inherently objectionable because micro-organ-- isms ingeneral, and molds and other fungi in particular, thrive in a moist environment and accordingly the methods heretofore proposed have never proved successful in practice. I believe it to be broadly novel [to apply a fungicidal agent to the substantially dry surface of fruit in conjunction with an oily or waxy vehicle that is substantially Generally speaking the various embodi ments of the novel composition hereinabove described are adapted more particularly for the preservative treatment of fruit and this use has therefore been emphasized in the foregoing description; but it is not intended in prior co-pending applications of mine as follows: Serial No. 542,141, filed March 8, 1922; Serial No. 579,052, filed Au net 1, 1922; Serial No. 590,979, filed Septem er 27, 1922; Serial No. 602,240, filed November 20,

What Iclaim is:

CROSS REFERElilJt;

' 1. As a new article of manufacture a com position useful especially for prcservatively coating fruit and the like which comprises parafline and a refined mineral oil vehicle less volatile than gasoline intimately commingled therewith to give a homogeneous mixture of spreadable, consistency at ordinary room temperatures, said mineral oil vehicle having a viscosity of' between 50 and 300 seconds Saybolt at 100 F.

. 2. As a new article of manufacture, a composition useful especially for preservatively coating fruit and the like comprising paraffineintimately commingled with white mineral oil whose specific gravity is within the approximate range of .830 to .900 and whose viscosity exceeds 50 seconds but does not substantially exceed about 150 seconds Saybolt at 100 F.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a composition useful especially for preservatively coating fruit and the like comprising ar- .afline intimately vcommingled with w ite mineral oil whose specific gravity is between about. .830 and .850 and whose viscosity is between about 50 and 100 seconds Saybolt coating fruit and the like which comprises,

an intimate mixture of parafiine with a refined mineral oil vehicle substantially nonvolatile at summer temperatures but free of heavy lubricating ends, the parafiine constituting between 25 and 50 per cent of the mixture.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a composition usefulespecially for preservatively coating fruit and the like which comprises an intimate mixture of parafiine with a. re-. fined mineral oil vehicle substantially nonvolatile at summer temperatures but free of heavy lubricating ends, the parailine constituting between 30' and 40 per cent of the mixture.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a composition useful especially' for preservatively coating fruit and the like comprising aniintimate mixture of a waxy material, such as paraffiue, with a white mineral Oll, the proportion of said waxy material constituting from about 5 or 10 to 75 per cent of the mixture.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a composition useful especially for preservatively coating fruit and the like comprising an intimate mixture of a waxy material, such as paratline with a white mineral oil, the proportion of said waxy material constituting from about 30 to 40 per cent of the mixture.

9. As a new article of manufacture, a composition useful especially for preservatively coatin fruit and the like comprising parafiine lended with an oily vehicle substantially non-volatile at temperatures below bricants, the mixture being whitish in appearance, sufiicientlyfluentto spread well at ordinary room temperatures, and substantiully odorless and 'taste1ess.

In testimony whereof signature.

ERNEST BROGDEN.

I hereunto am! my 15 

